Friday, January 31, 2014

I don't
know about you but the first month of 2014 has gone by pretty dang fast! This past month I bought A LOT of groceries
and A LOT of stock up items. We ate
really well too. Lots of fresh fruits
and vegetables, delicious homemade soups, a few casseroles and delicious pasta
dishes. It was a scrumptious start to
2014.

I began
our month with $125.oo plus $8.11 left from last month for a grand total of $133.11. I spent $145.13 and will rollover the
negative balance of $-12.02 into next month's budget. Because this last week in January I got a
jump start on my February shopping our starting total will be $112.98

Our
non-food spending came in at $20.97 (of our allotted $25 budget) for a 16 lb
bag of cat food, two boxes of facial tissues and two bottles of laundry
detergent (loss leader at Walgreens for $1.49 each), a bottle of fabric
softener, a bottle of dish soap and a lint roller. Sales, coupons and a stop at the dollar store
helped keep these expenses to a minimum.

This is
what I bought for groceries this month:

$$$

Spinach

1.48

Sale

Sour
cream - 16 oz. (2)

1.56

Sale

Chile
dip

0.68

Store
Promotion

Scallions

0.50

Sale

Tomatoes

0.91

Orange
juice - 1/2 gal

1.25

Store
Coupon

Milk -
1/2 gal (2)

2.50

Store
Coupon

Parmesan

2.09

Mushrooms

1.55

Tortilla
chips (2)

1.50

Store
Coupon

Soy
sauce

1.88

Bacon

2.88

Cheddar
cheese - 2#

5.89

Sale

Ground
beef - 3#

5.99

Sale

Pasta
(2)

1.03

Store
Coupon/Coupon

Canned
tomatoes (4)

2.00

Store
Coupon

Oranges

2.01

Sale

Eggs -
doz (2)

1.98

Sale

Soup
(2)

FREE

Gift
Card

Clam
chowder (5)

3.95

Sale/Coupon

French
bread (2)

1.00

Sale

Milk -
1gal

1.77

Store
Promotion

Scallions

0.54

Bagels

1.27

Sale/Coupon

Bread
(3)

4.00

Store
Coupon

Tortilla
chips

1.00

Sale

Cheese
soup

1.50

Tortillas

1.39

Chili
paste

2.49

Olives
(2)

1.98

Lettuce

0.88

Cole
slaw mix

0.98

Mixed
veggies

3.49

Butter
(2)

4.00

Store
Coupon

Orange
juice - 1/2 gal (2)

2.50

Store
Coupon

Tomatoes

0.94

Onions

0.57

Chuck
roast - 3.5#

9.45

Sale

Peas
& carrots

0.79

Broccoli
cuts

0.79

Pudding
cups - 3 pkgs.

2.24

Sale/Coupon

Mini Donuts - 2 pkgs

2.00

Sale

Sour
cream - 16oz. (3)

3.00

Sale

Cream -
pint

1.99

Oranges
- 10#

2.50

Store
Promotion

Tuna
(2)

1.00

Store
Promotion

Garlic
bulb

0.34

Bell
pepper

0.58

Sale

Green
onions

0.44

Sale

Tortillas
(2)

2.00

Sale

Cheese
- 2#

4.99

Store
Coupon

Tea
bags

1.19

Cereal

2.32

Store
Coupon/Coupon

Sugar -
4#

1.99

Apple
juice (2)

1.96

Sale

Lettuce

0.26

Sale/Coupon

Peanut
butter

2.99

Store
Promotion

Honey

FREE

Store
Promotion

Mixed
veggies (2)

3.00

Sale

Bananas

0.76

Sale

Oranges

2.50

Sale

Milk -
gal

1.77

Store
Promotion

Ham -
whole boneless

6.21

Markdown

Ramen
(10)

1.25

Potatoes- 10#

1.48

Sirloin
steaks (5)

7.45

Eggs -
doz

0.98

Weiners
(2)

1.00

Ice
cream (2)

3.98

Total

$ 145.13

I marked all my "stock up" items in red. I am pretty pleased with the purchases I made
and the fact that we enjoyed some really great meals this month.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Almost a year ago I gave in and made a batch of homemade laundry detergent. After reading so much about
it and my own mother's rave reviews, how could I not? A trip to the store for supplies was made -
borax, washing soda and bars of Fels Naptha soap.

Once home
I grated the soap, which I found was surprisingly easy, added the appropriate
amounts of borax and soda and mixed it well.
Actually I snapped the lid on the container and shook the heck out of
it.

Over
the course of the year I had made up two batches of the stuff and used it
exclusively to do our laundry. But then
I started to notice our stuff started to smell a little funky. Especially the sheets, towels and
bathrobes. I washed everything all over
again and still funky. Plus our whites
weren't really all that white.

I went
to the store and bought a small bottle of cheap liquid laundry soap and washed
the laundry again. No more odor and the
whites are amazingly white once again.
Now I am back to using commercial brand detergent.

I was
hopeful for a thrifty and environmentally friendly laundry soap alternative but
for me this one just wasn't it. Bummer.

How
about you? Do you make your own laundry
soap? Do you like the way it cleans your
clothes?

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

I'm a
nut about canning jars, especially vintage ones. I love to check out thrift stores and antique
shops looking for old mason jars. A
couple years ago while out antiquing with my parents we found a shelf full of
vintage half gallon mason jars for only $2 a piece. I think we bought them all.

I use
my canning jars year round. Not only do
I can fruit, jams and salsa in them but I use them to store my homemade
dressings and sauces as well as items in my pantry. The vintage canning jars from the antique
mall store my beans and pastas.

A
couple of weeks ago I told you I bought some wide mouth half gallon canning
jars. They were a box of six, regularly
priced at $13.97. I had a little bit
left on a $50 gift card so I used it and my final price out of pocket rang in
at $6.43. I was pretty happy about that.

I love
these jars!

I love
the cute little design printed on the side of the jar. More importantly, I love that I now have
glass containers to store our milk in that I am able to get my hand inside so I
can easily clean them. Keeping milk
containers clean is often difficult because of the residue left behind.

I love
how the size of the jar is perfect to fit in the door of our refrigerator. The milk jugs from the store never quite
fit. They always stuck out a bit so I
couldn't put things near the edge of the middle shelf or the door wouldn't
close. With refrigerator space at a
premium that was a pain.

A
couple years ago I bought a box of white plastic lids for everyday use for my
jars. I put the lids and rings that came
with them away to use when I can next.

In
addition to milk there are a lot of things I plan to use these jars for:

·Sun
tea, obviously J

·Lemonade

·Making
a small batch of pickles

·Flour
canister

·Sugar
canister

If I'm
not careful I may find myself in need of another box of these jars.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

It has
been suggested by several of my followers lately that I do a post on
inexpensive options for pizza. If your
family is anything like mine, pizza is a pretty big deal and you probably have
it quite often too.

We
rarely go out for pizzaand never order it delivered. Right after we moved into our tiny house we
dabbled with a few take and bakes, picked up a couple of pizzas from a nearby
restaurant and went through a frozen pizza phase when it was on sale and
coupons were plentiful making it ridiculously cheap. Even still, we all agree the best pizza we
ever eat is our own homemade.

I start
with the dough.

I use
my bread machine but you can totally make this in your mixer with dough hooks
or even by hand. This recipe easily
makes two medium pizza crusts.

Pizza Dough

2 cups all purpose
flour

1 cups whole wheat
flour

2½ tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

1¼ cups hot water

Select dough cycle. Place dry ingredients in pan and select
start. Add oil and then water. Once dough forms a smooth ball (you may have
to add a little flour or water depending on humidity) stop machine and allow
dough to rest ten minutes. Divide dough
in half and form two pizza crusts.

I like to oil my hands and smooth oil over my dough and then shape
the crust.

You need some sauce.

Easy Quick Pizza
Sauce

1 8 oz. cup tomato
sauce

1 clove garlic,
crushed

1/2 tsp. dried basil

In a microwavable
bowl combine ingredients and stir to thoroughly combine. Cover bowl and microwave on high for 1
minute, stir, and repeat. Spoon 1/4 cup
of sauce onto your freshly made pizza crust.

Sprinkle with your favorite grated cheese:

Mozzarella

Monterey jack

Cheddar

Parmesan

Provolone

Swiss

Colby

Top with your favorite toppings:

Crumbled cooked ground sausage, beef, pork, turkey, etc.

Diced cooked ham or chicken

Leftover taco meat

Bacon bits, pepperoni slices, sliced ham or sausage, chorizo, etc.

Don't forget the veggies:

Peppers

Onions, scallions, chives

Mushrooms

Tomatoes

Pineapple (I know, it’s a fruit)

Sliced olives

Zucchini, thinly sliced

And bake at 450° 12 to 14 minutes until it is done and the cheese
is bubbly.

Here is
a tip a friend of mine found out the hard way.
Don't overload your pizza with toppings or your crust will always be
soft and doughy. Lightening it up allows
the crust to bake evenly along the bottom.

As the
year progresses I will be doing additional posts of the "gourmet pizzas"
my family enjoys. And you'll be
pleasantly surprised to find that gourmet doesn’t mean expensive. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Another
great tip is whenever you brown meat like hamburger or sausage take out about
1/4 to 1/2 cup and put into a small container to freeze and use as a pizza
topping.